We are Loyal to Royal. Are you? Why?

[kspam]

We are Loyal to Royal. Here is why: back in 06 or 07 we had a cruise planned. We always plan a year in advance, this time we had our daughter's friend with us as well. We live in Kansas and usually have to take 2 flights to get to Florida. Well, we get to the airport well in advance of our time and our first flight to St. Louis was canceled. They put us on a Greyhound bus for Dallas and it broke down 10 times on the interstate. Needless to say, we missed our flight and the sail away of our ship. GRRRR. RCL got us to Miami, put us up in a hotel, flew us to Jamaica, and got us to the ship. When we finally boarded 2 days late, we get a bottle of champagne and a note apologizing and AND we all got 1/2 of our cruise refunded. 2 adults and 2 teens. It wasn't even RCL's fault!!! We will be forever Loyal to Royal.

 

 

 

[Traveling Mike]

I don't know if I am loyal or Royal Caribbean is the best fit for me at this point in my life.  We cruised lots of time on Disney back in the early 2000.  We loved the ships and the way they take care of you.  Then the prices climbed, and we could go on 3 other cruises for the price of one Disney cruise.  We did a couple of Carnival Cruises and stopped because of too many drunk, loud people on the ships.  We did some Princess cruises and loved them because of the locations we cruised to and the good food.  I stopped cruising Princess because the last two cruises made me feel like I was on a ship with a bunch of old people (and I am 62).  We did a NCL cruise in 2010 and my son hated it.  They put the 12-year-old kids in a conference room with Legos and expected them to be happy.  My review of the ship was "Motel 6 on the Water".  I went on a NCL TA Cruise back in 2019 and fell in love with their Solo Cruising.  On that cruise new friends talked about how great Celebrity was.  I went on a TP Celebrity Cruise and loved it.  On that cruise people talked about how they mix RCL Crises and Celebrity Cruises.  Before I could go on a RCL cruise Covid happed.  When Cruising opened up RCL had the double points program.  I went on 6 Royal Cruises and got double points plus double points for Solo Cruising.  I found that RCL has a wide range of ships and locations.  They have good food (not great) and all the toys a old man can handle.  Now that I am Diamond + they give me enough free drinks where I do not have to purchase a drink package saving me lots of money.

With all that said, I don't think I am loyal but can find everything I am looking for on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean at a price point I am willing to pay.

[smokeybandit]

14 minutes ago, Traveling Mike said:

I don't know if I am loyal or Royal Caribbean is the best fit for me at this point in my life

I think it's the latter for a lot of people. I prefer RC because it's the best fit for us at this point. And achieving a C&A tier that actually is beneficial really doesn't give me any reason to look around. But I'm more than capable of seeing the weaknesses RC has while enjoying the strengths.

[twangster]

Definitely not loyal.  On multiple occasions Royal has provided an over the top experience and on multiple occasions Royal has stated loud and clear they feel no need for any loyalty in our business relationship.   From those multiple occasions where they threw me under the keel it was absolutely clear we have nothing more than a business relationship. 

I sail multiple lines and during the restart I made a point of spreading my money across five different cruise lines.  Two of those were Royal and Celebrity but the other three were not in the RCG family.

Royal is the line I like the best, right now, but I will continue to test the waters elsewhere to validate I still feel that way and Royal will continue to throw me under the keel when it suits them.  I do most of my cruising with Royal but I'll eagerly cruise with other companies when something catches my eye just as Royal will drop me like a wet paper bag full of groceries if they can make a dollar more with a cancellation.

I feel like we both have a very clear understanding of our business relationship and it is not exclusive in either direction.  I think we are both okay with that.  

[OCSC Mike]

Yes, I'm 100% loyal, but I don't have a very exciting story.

I had never cruised in my life until my honeymoon. My wife had cruised RC as a kid and was Emerald so naturally that's what we took. Also, Voyager was new-ish at the time... OMG a promenade and an ice rink on a ship!

Once we got a bit older and started cruising a bit more often, we wanted to get to Diamond and did. The perks just made our cruises that much more enjoyable. Now we're looking forward to D+ (we'll be 7 points away in 3 weeks).

From a personal mindset point of view, I'm not overly adventurous and enjoy knowing the ins and outs to maximize my enjoyment rather than trying something new. I'm also an "if ain't broke" person and, knock on wood, have thoroughly enjoyed every single cruise I've taken (of course some were better than others for one reason or another).

As with most things cruise-related, different strokes...

[teddy]

We first cruised in 2019.  We chose Royal Caribbean based on recommendations from family members.   We loved cruising and stuck with Royal based on the thought that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  

When we reached Diamond last fall, we started looking at different cruise lines based on itinerary and curiosity.  We now have two cruises booked on a different line, one of which is a European itinerary that Royal doesn’t offer.  The other is a 4-night cruise out of Florida that was cheap and allows us to use our flight credits before they expire.  

We have been quite satisfied with the experiences we’ve had on all of our Royal Caribbean cruises and would like to continue cruising with them.  However, we are frugal, so price is a major factor in our booking cruises.  The recent uptick in prices (specifically on Royal Caribbean cruises) has us thinking of other options, both cruising and non-cruising. 

[wordell1]

I actually started with Celebrity but moved to Royal because it was a better fit for families with kids.

I like Royal, but definitely want to try Celebrity again.

The Loyalty program is tough to beat once you get to Diamond level as you get the equivalent of $100 a day in free drinks for a couple.

[kspam]

We are Diamond

 

I don't care to do any other vacation-hubby loves Vegas.

 

those years of the pandemic almost killed me waiting!

[kspam]

We sailed on Carnival Victory once when our daughter was young.

 

We did not have a bad experience, we had just done RCL before so we noticed the difference.  

[WAYNO]

We are definitely loyal to Royal.  We are comfortable with how it all works, and even how it all doesn't work sometimes.  We keep coming back.

 

As a D+ with no chance of making Pinnacle, I do let my thoughts stray to maybe other cruise lines, but then I come back to my senses.  Familiarity is comfortable. 

 

Plus, we've loved every cruise with Royal.

[FSUFAN]

Not loyal at this point.  We've only cruised RCL once and, IMHO, it was a total letdown (we were on @teddy the same Voyager to NE/CA last October).  Now we have the upcoming Alaska trip on the Quantum.  

I've stated before that we also have a HAL Rotterdam cruise out of Amsterdam in August.  The HAL sailing has just absolutely crushed RCL in value (on paper). Free Wi-Fi for 2, waived gratuities, Free Drinks package, $100/ea in excursion credit, $100 OBC, 1 night specialty restaurant included. (At RCL's prices over $1,800 in savings.)

All of the above in a similar balcony/Veranda cabin.  The HAL trip is about $500 more, but the added perks more than make up for that amount.

If I had little kids (all ours are in their 30s), RCL and all the onboard stuff would be a huge plus.  

[RockerDom31]

We are "loyal" to Royal, which started off because of convenience sake. We live in NJ and Bayonne is a much more convenient port than any of the NY ports. Our first cruise was to Bermuda in 2019 and if that had not gone well, we probably would have tried another line. But it did go well and so we did another Royal cruise. And then that went well, so we booked another one for this coming summer. And heck, just a few weeks ago, we booked a Royal cruise for NEXT summer.

Maybe one day we will try Celebrity but still from Bayonne. Driving to the port is such a money-saver. Not having to pay for the NYC bridges is also quite the money-saver.

We did an all-inclusive resort for our honeymoon and another one for our 1-year anniversary. Between the cost of flights and the cost of the resort itself, we could've gone on 6 cruises and saw more places for the same price.

Loyalties can come and go. I was once loyal to K-mart, Nissans, and Organic Chemistry. But now, I go to Target, drive a Subaru, and teach HS Chemistry and college General Chemistry. For the time being, we like the way Royal operates and it works out for us.

[SweetPea]

Definitely not loyal, although i get why people are. Their loyalty program is crazy generous compared to other lines. So in a way, i do think to a certain extent that Royal does buy loyalty. 

I've said this many times, but we started cruising in 2003. First tried Royal in 2008 based on so many rave reviews. I can't begin to tell you how much we hated that cruise. Still the worst ever in our almost 40 cruises across 5 different cruise lines. It took us 11 years to try Royal again. For now, we like it, and that's fine until we don't and move on. Right now, they have the convenience of sailing out of NJ so we don't have to fly, which is what is primarily keeping us with them.

[Last Lion]

I have tried all the major cruise lines except HAL and DCL.

D+ benefits are excellent. We use them all. Often the only items on the bill at the end of the cruise are gratuities and 1/2 of a specialty dinner.

Suits us to a tee. Is RC perfect? Nope. Does their outstanding loyalty program plus large fleet (ergo multiple itineraries) cancel out the imperfections? Yup.

 

 

[Cakemeister]

We're "conditionally loyal". We like to sail out of Galveston for the cost, and I don't think Carnival is a good fit for us. And we are diamond now so that is a benefit, too. As cost-conscious cruisers, we'll sail Royal unless something better comes along like Princess or even MSC.

[RCIfan1912]

I am, or we are. We just love Royal Caribbean, the ships to me are more innovative than the other lines. We also sail right from NJ where we live. Now that limits us a bit but I don't fly so it's a sacrifice and we switch up itineraries enough that's just fine. 30-40 minutes to the port and on the ship in minutes. 

We tried NCL a few years back and almost immediately missed Royal Caribbean. We literally said "we are just Royal Caribbean people". 

[tingtang]

Sworn to fun, loyal to none.  

[tonyfsu21]

As a family we continue to return to the brand for the Oasis Class ships which in my opinion are the best. The C&A program (especially at the diamond level and higher) can’t be beat. Deck 17 Suites on the Oasis class is something we look forward to. I’ve sailed all the mid tier brands and they each have strong points but nothing comes close to RC in terms of its fleet and the variety of things to do!

[Floski]

Definitely loyal.

My first cruise was Freedom in 2015 (I was a young 53 then) and we've been on 7 since (#8 is Mariner this Friday!).  Nothing 

brings me more joy than that first step on board.  I breathe the biggest, most refreshing breath at that time.  Our next cruise, 

which is yet to be planned/booked will make us Diamond (big whup) but it's a nice little milestone.  

I've heard so many things that Royal does for folks who have been displaced/inconvenienced (see OP) that I feel like I belong to

a huge corporation family.  Remember when the lines all started up after covid?  Soooo many people who got infected were taken

care of by RC - to the costly expense of providing them a free ride home.  Who does that in business?

Yeah, I've "considered" NCL (I met an employee here while we were having beers and she told me she would give me the friends

and family discount, which I assume is nice) but that line just doesn't do it for me.

I've met the most wonderful people through this blog, and going on an insiders group cruise was a freaking blast!  -  I don't want to

switch.   I'm now 61 (wayyyyy much younger than Mike^) and not sure how many cruises I have left, but you can rest assured they'll be on Royal.  

[RCIfan1912]

2 minutes ago, Floski said:

Definitely loyal.

My first cruise was Freedom in 2015 (I was a young 53 then) and we've been on 7 since (#8 is Mariner this Friday!).  Nothing 

brings me more joy than that first step on board.  I breathe the biggest, most refreshing breath at that time.  Our next cruise, 

which is yet to be planned/booked will make us Diamond (big whup) but it's a nice little milestone.  

I've heard so many things that Royal does for folks who have been displaced/inconvenienced (see OP) that I feel like I belong to

a huge corporation family.  Remember when the lines all started up after covid?  Soooo many people who got infected were taken

care of by RC - to the costly expense of providing them a free ride home.  Who does that in business?

Yeah, I've "considered" NCL (I met an employee here while we were having beers and she told me she would give me the friends

and family discount, which I assume is nice) but that line just doesn't do it for me.

I've met the most wonderful people through this blog, and going on an insiders group cruise was a freaking blast!  -  I don't want to

switch.   I'm now 61 (wayyyyy much younger than Mike^) and not sure how many cruises I have left, but you can rest assured they'll be on Royal.  

You have plenty left! Love the post! You are the kinda guy I like to run into on a cruise, full of life and who cares about age! 

[Floski]

2 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

You have plenty left! Love the post! You are the kinda guy I like to run into on a cruise, full of life and who cares about age! 

Still time to book Mariner for Friday!!!!   COME ON!!!!  I'll need a late night partner!

[RCIfan1912]

that sounds like fun. We have 3 booked, maybe we run into each on one of those.

[chrismelissa]

We are loyal to Royal, we have been with them for the past 20 years, wont use any other cruise line, we are Diamond status, and have 2 more trips coming up 1 in Oct.goin to Italy & Greece  next Aug. 2024, out of florida taking our grandson on his first trip,  never had any problems just love everything that they do

[14Terry]

We’ve been loyal (love the RC experience), but now, we look for other options too. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

54 minutes ago, Floski said:

 (#8 is Mariner this Friday!).

Whaaaat ?  Us, too !

We’re sailing with a dear, OLD friend - one of the Jim twins, if you read any of my old blogs, you will know…

Would love to meet you.  We’ll have to make arrangements.

[Floski]

16 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Whaaaat ?  Us, too !

We’re sailing with a dear, OLD friend - one of the Jim twins, if you read any of my old blogs, you will know…

Would love to meet you.  We’ll have to make arrangements.

Oh, absolutely!  

With 4 sea days  we don't really have an excuse not to hook up!   I can't wait to meet all of you!

[Geezer Of The Seas]

Don't know if 3 times out on  Royal makes us 'loyal", but...............

After 1st time out on Mariner, we were so taken with the experience, the crew & the ship, we canceled 2 itineraries booked with NCL and rebooked on Jewel & Wonder. Once again, the crew we interacted with throughout both cruises made the experience and traveling to places we've never seen. Have a reservation next January on Mariner, but with the coming opening of Brightline service from Orlando to points south, we might be inclined to try trips on Brands X,Y, & Z sailing from Lauderdale or Miami. Open to sailing from either, but I'd rather undergo full mouth root canals while receiving a colonoscopy than drive to South Florida. The 60 miles to Port Canaveral is thrilling enough............why Brightline would be wise to build a station 'at the bend' in Cocoa by 528. Boy, would that take the pain out of getting to PC. Are you listening Brightline?

[Rackham]

Currently Loyal to Royal as they deliver good value versus what I'm spending to cruise with them, and they provide what I'm seeking in this style of leisure travel, for the most part. It certainly helps, but isn't the sole reason for loyalty, them having regular departures from a port that's easily drivable for me and a loyalty program that really starts heaping on the benefits after cruising with them solo 7 times (will be Diamond after a Christmas sailing this year). Due to upcoming cruises either booked or planned between 2024 through 2027, will probably not consider branching out until 2028 due to loyalty status hitting Diamond+ in 2027.

[Pattycruise]

I don’t think I’d classify myself as loyal.  I’ve taken advantage of a good thing-the low prices for a solo during the restart and the quadruple points and then fell into the casino and have enjoyed the comped cruises from them and booked some “to be paid ” cruises. Hubby is retiring to join me on most of my bookings.  When I reach my pinnacle goal -looks like January) I’ll likely slow my ride with Royal and explore other cruise lines so I can figure out if they are “worth it”.  It’s been a great ride these  nearly 2 years, I’ve learned a lot,  and I never would have reached Pinnacle otherwise.

[ScottD]

I've only sailed RC and swore by them every time. I even told people that booked on other lines that they were crazy. I am still loyal, and I still have no issues with them. BUT I know I'll never sail enough to get a loyalty level that is worth while,so now cruising is more about what I can get for the money for my family. We LOVED Oasis in February, and promised our son we would do it again to explore some more, but the upcoming cruise in October is costing me almost double the last one did, with a much less desirable itinerary...but I am saving airfare because I can drive to the NJ port. So once we started talking about ANOTHER cruise.... I decided to shop around a little. The price and what comes with it, in addition to a great itinerary that I haven't done, I jumped on an MSC cruise for next year. I'll admit, I felt like I was cheating a little, but looking forward to see what other lines offer and will continue to book other lines if the value seems to be there. Basically, at this point...it's all about what we can get for what we can afford on a year to year basis. @twangsterI think it was you on that other board that had some issues with pricing changes on MSC... so that's something I will certainly keep an eye on

[F1guynz]

I would class us as somewhat Loyal. When looking for cruises we tend to look at the Roya cruises first as we are diamond+ and the perks definitely have value to us, however if another line offered an opportunity that was too great to pass-up we would take it.

Royal has our business at the moment but if their ships went too far into the icon concept we would look elsewhere. While the ship looks interesting too many kids/people with longer wait times would diminish the experience for us. Not having kids means we prefer more of an adult experience.

I think Freedom class is our sweet pot.

 

 

[WAAAYTOOO]

47 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

When I reach my pinnacle goal I’ll likely slow my ride with Royal and explore other cruise lines so I can figure out if they are “worth it”.

Bingo !

We are much too close to the magic 700 to be distracted…but once we get there, all bets are off.  We should make it on our October Mariner cruise.  

[Last Lion]

The previous post strikes home. Cruising seems to be splitting into two channels- all the bells and whistles- generally family oriented- and the quieter, more traditional sea-going experience.

Personally, we would utilize both for different family situations. But it does seem that Royal charges a fair bit more for the bells and whistle ships.

I would really hate to see the more laid back cruise experience disappear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CynBeth]

We are not very experienced cruisers but 3 out of 4 have been with RC and the one that wasn’t we did NCL for Hawaii. I forget how many years ago it was that we started with Royal. We saw one of those travel shows that was about Radiance going to Alaska and we loved what we saw of the ship and cruise through the inside passage with land tour afterwards to Denali and Fairbanks including a train ride and were able to book that exact one which left from Vancouver with dates that fit our schedules. We had such an amazing trip we knew we found the cruise line for us. Since then we have been on Allure for Western Caribbean and Majesty for Bahamas. We were supposed to be on a Mediterranean cruise the year Covid hit and hopefully in a little over a month will finally be able to go and it is on Enchantment.

[Va4fam]

We have been loyal to Royal since 2017.   We enjoy the perfect mix of festive and fun over o stuffy/formal or party/party.   

Now that we are D+, two of our next three cruises will be on different lines....Princess in Alaska, and Celebrity for partial Panama Canal.   We are excited that some of our status will be enjoyed on Celebrity.  

 

[VeronicaS1970]

Cruising since 2003, exclusively with Royal until last month, when we tried Celebrity for the first time. Now that we are at a point in our life where we can cruise 3 times per year ( darned work gets in the way, grrr), and we are D+ but FAR from reaching Pinnacle, we are looking to branch out. 

I am looking at MSC for next year, they status match so my Royal D+ equals Gold ( second highest) tier in their Voyagers Club. Plus they offer free drinks and wifi promotion and their newest ships look absolutely amazing.

We will continue to sail Royal probably 2 out of the 3 times, but want to see what else we might like, except Carnival, I refuse.

[twangster]

I'll add this...

Royal crew on the ships are the best.  They always demonstrate a strong sense of loyalty minus a few times were they choose to implement a policy inconsistent with the company line.  However the experience on board is generally pretty great.  I can get over a few minor policy gaffes onboard because of the overall experience once onboard.

Royal employees on shore demonstrate very little, if any, sense of loyalty.  It is always shoreside issues that give me headaches and heartburn.   Multiple, long hours spent on the phone to deal with a mess they created are all too common.  I don't know if humans in the company are creating the issues or botched, aging IT platforms make the life of a Royal shoreside employee living hell.  I can only imagine what my travel agent has to deal with as they take the brunt of the issues created by shoreside policy pulled out of someone's bottom.  Usually, in the end, you can eventually find someone shoreside that can see through the madness and fix the company's wrongdoings but the path to get that one person in the company who is willing to do the right thing is paved with broken glass.

If Royal's shoreside were to mimic the onboard experience I would be more inclined to become loyal to Royal.

[Ampurp85]

I would say Royal has loyalty from me but it's not exclusive. I just made D+, I hold little hope of becoming pinnacle unless I move to Florida, and that combined with my casino status has kept me sailing exclusively with them. I am not a fan of NCL, and I loathe Carnival, but I will sail MSC or another line if they have the European/Asian Itinerary I wanted. Like @twangster I have had issue with shoreside and understand I am nothing to Royal. 

[Xaa]

I'm loyal to my wife, my son's and my dogs.

Royal and I seem to have a symbiotic relationship right now.  They are what I need, I am what they need.  When my 12 year old leaves for college, I'll have crossed 60 and won't really need as many family friendly things available but if everything keeps going well, Royal will generally get a first look.  If things start to go south for me, then I'll switch with the same feelings I have if I switch phone carriers.

I so love a Central Park.... 

[L454S]

Price and Itinerary are our deciding factors. We did the point chasing for a while, but what we have found by trying other lines combined with the know how learned, favors the "price & itinerary" outlook for us.

Just last month we tried a T/A one of the HAL Pinnacle Class ships and were very pleased with just about everything, including price.